A United Airlines flight attendant has come under fire for wearing a Palestinian flag pin onboard a flight from Chicago to Newark, but United is standing behind the flight attendant and supporting her right to wear such a divisive pin.
United Airlines Stands Behind Flight Attendant Who Wore Controversial Palestinian Flag Pin
The Jewish civil rights organization StopAntisemitism first noted the incident, which took place on a flight from Chicago (ORD) to Newark (EWR). The (unnamed) flight attendant was not only wearing a Palestinian flag pin below her nametag, but also a keffiyeh-patterned lanyard around her neck (traditional male headdress).
"Pride"
Really @united ?? https://t.co/4p9LyB96T7
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) August 27, 2024
We’ve seen similar incidents on JetBlue and Delta Air Lines. And indeed, both responded by banning all flag pins except for the American flag pin.
But United is defending the right of its flight attendants to wear such pins. It says:
“Our uniform policy has long included an option for flight attendants to wear flag pins to designate specific language skills so that our customers who are more comfortable in a language other than English can know who on our crew speaks their preferred language.
Which is reasonable…but United continues:
“We also allow flight attendants to wear flag pins that represent their pride in a place to which they may have a special connection.”
Yikes.
Does United allow Taiwain pins on flights to Mainland China? Nazi Germany or Apartheid South Africa pins? The Confederate rebel battle flag pins?
Apples and oranges? All, including the Palestinian flag, represent ideologies of conquest and superiority. Just listen to Yahya Sinwar…
This is not a smart move on United’s part….and of course, the “pride” comment and the flight attendant’s adjacent rainbow-colored “Equal” pin is particularly ironic in the Gaza Strip or West Bank…
As I’ve argued before, it makes sense to ban such controversial pins while in uniform, even if it reflects an unfortunate reality of incivility; a time in which we cannot tolerate opposing views on highly-controversial issues. The pins became a distraction and undermine the primary mission of an airline to provide safe, reliable, and quality air transport. The ban is therefore appropriate because of the passions that an Israeli or particularly a Palestinian flag pin inflame. Russian versus Ukrainian flag pins may evoke the same reaction.
I do love it when flight attendants wear flag pins to designate what language(s) they speak. I also loved it when Emirates once had flag pins to show where its diverse crews came from and what languages they spoke.
Take Arabic, for example. There is no “Arabic” flag. Rather, there are dozens of nations in which Arabic is spoken and many have distinct dialects or nuances. If a flight attendant is from Gaza or the West Bank and speaks Arabic, I think a Palestinian flag pin is quite appropriate.
But unless the flight attendant above spoke Arabic with a Palestinian dialect, she had no business wearing that pin in uniform.
And I’m quite surprised that United has taken a much different approach to this issue than Delta or JetBlue. Part of me wishes we could wear our respective pins and respectfully debate. But that’s not the country or nation we live in and United should not subject passengers to such incivility when that flag stands for hate and terror to so many Israeli and Jewish passengers.
Palestinian flag stands for terror? Really Mathew???
“From The River To The Sea…”
Do you deny what the government in Gaza and even the West Bank has said about Israel and her right to exist?
A flag does not necessarily have a single meaning.
Netanyahu opposes Palestine’s right to exist. He is very heavy handed. Too many hotheads. There should be 1948 or at least ¹967 borders, not Israel controlling from the river to the sea.
What would happen to an Iranian FA who wore an Israel flag ? How about a Pakistan FA who wore an India flag ?
Matthew, thanks for this. It’s one of the best explanations I’ve seen for what’s objectively problematic about wearing the Gazan flag.
I’d just like to add a few points to the discussion, if that’s okay…
Seeing as Palestine is not a real country, but a Roman-established region which includes the ancient land of Israel – plus Gaza isn’t a real country, but an ancient region with in the ancient land of Israel – the flag obviously expresses political meaning by representing a group, not a country (especially since Arabic wouldn’t have traditionally been the majority language of “Palestine” when its Latin name was first imposed upon the area, but rather Hebrew or Aramaic – maybe Latin or Greek, depending – or going back further, whatever the migrating Philistines spoke; hardly any Palestinians can even pronounce it, so they either say “Balestine” or “Falastin”).
The only reason to wear a Palestinian flag is for political reasons, not to express what language one speaks, regardless of the disingenuous excuse given by the wearer.
An American flag can signify American English, though I’ve seen the English flag used as the universal symbol for English (which makes sense: England=English).
In fact, airlines could stipulate only specific flags as representing specific languages, much the way many non-British websites use the English flag to signify English.
Same with a Russian flag expressing the ability to speak Russian, a Chinese flag symbolizing the ability to speak Chinese, etc.
Just because someone doesn’t like the country doesn’t necessarily mean there’s a problem with wearing a flag meant ONLY to signal a language.
For example, if a flight attendant wears the Iranian flag solely to express the ability to speak Farsi, what’s the problem with that? How else would one non-verbally signal their Farsi ability?
I live in Israel and we’ve been attacked by Iran, but I’d have no problem seeing a flight attendant wearing an Iranian flag meant to signify the ability to speak Farsi.
(Additionally, many Iranians have no problem with Jews and don’t want a war with anyone. There’s a massive swathe of the Iranian population not represented by their government.)
But again, a Palestinian flag is ONLY a political statement. There’s no other reason to wear one.
What’s with all the “Flag” nonsense ? Socrates did not have a “Flag” . Hillel the Elder did not have a flag . If I declared my own sovereignty I would not need a Flag . Enough with the Flags .
I support champagne . My flag would be a champagne bottle with the cork pulled .
Israel is a genocidal state at the rate they’re going.
It absolutely does. Those animals slaughtered innocent Israelis; raping (then slaughtering) women, slaughtering babies, murdering kids. They’re cowardly pieces of subhuman crap and the idea of a FA wearing the pin celebrating them and the 90% of so-called Palestinians who support them is abhorrent. She might as well wear a KKK hood to work.
And, as far as I’m concerned, whatever happens to Gaza was asked for – and is deserved.
Have you ever read the Hamas Covenant, their constitution? It specific calls for Jihad against the Jewish people, laments that the Holocaust purportedly didn’t go far enough, and calls for the destruction of the State of Israel. Your bigotry is much louder than your feigned indignation, pal.
This is a foolish FA. She wears the rainbow pin but would be slaughered by Palestians for trying to be “out” as a lesbian. What a stupid fool.
Any pin is a fool which wishes to Stick others with it’s sharp end .
Who cares. Just because a bunch of people may wish me dead doesn’t mean I am going to wish for their families and communities to be wiped off the face of the planet or subject to forced displacement. Acting like a monster to remove a monster is a monstrosity. Be human and humane, or you become less distinguishable from the monster you claim to hate and oppose.
And by the way, not everyone supportive of equal rights for LGBTQ+ persons are LGBTQ+. Many who support with rainbow flag symbols are as CIS heterosexual as it gets — although we don’t all have twisted fantasies of being breeders like Elon Musk and Pavel Durov or that Dutch guy with a couple of hundred of kids or more due to a lot of sperm donations.
Not all Palestinians are terrorists. Both Israel and Palestine have a right to exist. I agree what Hamas did in October was wrong, but what Israel has done to Gaza and the Palestinians is also wrong. Of course, you include stories in your blog to incite controversy and comments and demonstrate your bias in many of your posts.
I am biased (we all are) and I do believe Palestinians have a right to exist without fear. SO DOES ISRAEL.
Israel will take care of itself .
Nearly all Palestinians would disagree with you. Polls show overwhelming support among so-called Palestinians for Hamas and for the atrocities they inflicted in October. Supporting “Palestine” is akin to supporting the Third Reich.
The FA should be fired for insensitivity and for pure ignorance in actually thinking that an LGBTQ pin and a Palestinian pin can coexist without the latter stoning it to death.
Question for you Matt – let’s say an individual (not necessarily a flight attendant) wants to wear a symbol to support Gaza civilians, including the theoretical right for Gaza civilians to have citizenship in a non-terrorist state. They believe that Gaza civilians are bearing too much pain in this situation and want to express that view. And assume these people have no antisemitism in their bodies whatsoever. Does the “Palestinian” flag not qualify? I honestly have sympathy for many on both sides of this debate, as well as a strong dislike for many on both sides of this debate. But the idea that there can be no legitimate way to express support for those on the Gaza side strikes me as wrong.
I absolutely stipulate that the flag can mean that…but because it can also symbolize terror, racism, and oppression…a flight attendant should not wear one in uniform.
Many (not me) would also claim these flags represent “terror, racism and oppression”:
– USA
– Israel
– UK
– India
– China
– Russia
– Ukraine
– Saudi Arabia
Etc
Leave this well meaning FA alone. Maybe her boss can encourage her to support her causes in other ways. But this hyperbole from you here is poor form IMO
That’s why no one should wear flag pins in uniform.
So a flight attendant should also not wear an Israeli flag, correct? Because it symbolizes oppression and terror to Palestinian Arabs and others in the region, correct?
(The US flag is also a symbol of violent imperialism and conquest haha).
Reading the post again, equating the mainline Palestinian flag to Nazi Germany, apartheid South Africa and Confederate flags is pretty far out and frankly offensive. If it were something like a Hamas or Al Qaeda flag, I could see your point.
Were there not good people with bad governments in Nazi Germany and Apartheid South Africa too?
1) I personally don’t view the Palestinian flag, as used by many, as a symbol of any “government.” I think many view it as a symbol of Palestinian civilians.
2) I would say there were no “good people” in the Nazi “government” given the Nazi government’s stated ideology,
. South Africa may be a tad different, but the South African flag today is seen as a segregationist symbol.
Anthony, and in all sincerity many see the Confederate batte flag as a flag of heritage, liberty, and states’ rights, not of racial subjugation, chattel slavery, and racism. That doesn’t make it so.
Do you not see it as arrogant that you seem to see the Palestinian flag as equivalent to Hamas when it represents all of Palestine, including the people of the West Bank who rejected Hamas?
In my experience , the southern confederate stars and bars represents Excellent American Soldiers and Fighters , and good friends when the going gets tough . Give me a southern teammate any day , and I know he will have my back . I knew one nicknamed “Shadow” , and , merely by him sharpening his knife , he evoked security .
The very few actual good germans became victims of the bad germans . The many middle-of-road germans became informers . The many bad germans were quite numerous .
Just like Democrats during Covid!
**Reading the post again, equating the mainline Palestinian flag to Nazi Germany, apartheid South Africa and Confederate flags is pretty far out and frankly offensive. **
Actually, the comparison is spot on. Flags that celebrate hateful, misguided, ignorant racists. That you are unable to perceive the obvious is pretty astonishing.
Bravo, Matthew. Your linking United’s policy on a Palestinian pin to having a right to wear Confederate, KKK, Nazi or Apartheid pins is spot on. Your common sense once more wins the day. And the argument.
+100
Unfortunately, Mathew is right on.
I hope that the war in Gaza will finish soon and a new government will be elected which supports a peaceful solution to all sides living in harmony.
Until then… it’s literally a Nazi government…
For United States Of America citizens, the Declaration Of Independence states that we have the right of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” It does not guarantee happiness. Nor does it and the Constitution grant the right not to be offended. While distasteful to some, it is not illegal. The First Amendment guarantees the “freedom of speech”. Congress shall not make a LAW… However, The categories of unprotected speech include obscenity, child pornography, defamatory speech, false advertising, true threats, and fighting words. Deciding what is or is not “free speech” is reserved for the courts of law to decide and ultimately the Supreme Court Of The United States if pushed that far.
First Amendment restricts the government’s ability to silence free speech. United Airlines is not subject to that.
Yes but United is not Congress and they are perfectly able to set and enforce a uniform policy that does not include flags…to the point of termination. You apparently don’t know what the 1st amendment protects, what it doesn’t and what is subject to interpretation.
So Matt by your logic, all the sentatoes and congress members should not be wearing Israeli flag pins correct?
Where is your outrage there?
Do you support open air prison camps?
Do you support rights to self determination?
Do you support the right to return home?
Or are you just a Zionist shill? The mast majority of people support either a two state or single state solution, but the current Israeli government supports neither because they are happy with the status quo and any equal rights to ALL the pole in isreal would effectively mean more ‘Arab people’ control
Members of Congress are free to wear what they want and will be judged accordingly by voters. Quite different than an employee wearing a divisive message in uniform.
lol. Period. Full stop.
At this juncture you are embarrassing yourself.
Rules for thee not for me.
What employees can wear while in uniform on company time versus what they can wear on their own time is very different.
Surely you are not too dense to realize that, right?
No Matt, you seem to be the dense one.
You are a lawyer correct? What part of United’s response on uniform policy says pins are not allowed?
“We also allow flight attendants to wear flag pins that represent their pride in a place to which they may have a special connection.”
Seems to me the pin is allowed under the above quoted response United has given.
Shut your anti-Semitic, Jew-hating terrorist pie-hole, you rag-head terrorist wannabe turd.
Your mother blows goats.
For the record, I am Jewish, and being anti zionist is not being antisemitic you keyboard warrior
@Bark, both the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and I disagree with your statement. You are clearly one of those self-loathing, Jew-hating Jews who only identifies as Jewish when condemning Israel. As my grandmother, of blessed memory, would have said: Gai en dret und bach bagels.
Another one to sensationalize. Stick to writing travel blogs.
“All, including the Palestinian flag, represent ideologies of conquest and superiority.”
Doesn’t the U.S. have territories that have no representation in Congress, and Congress can take away their modicum of independence at any time?
And didn’t George W. Bush take over two countries, install their governments and leaders, and bail when things got difficult?
Bush didn’t bail, but your point again just shows that flag pins should be left at home unless desginating what language is spoken.
Probably my last reply on this… I see protesters supporting Palestinians regularly in NYC. Some of the individuals are distasteful, but I simply don’t see a bunch of Palestinian flags and think “Oh, that is just like a bunch of Confederate or Nazi flags.” I just don’t, and I think most agree with me.
BTW, I just ordered a Israel/Palestine dual flag pin and will be wearing it on some flights
All these airlines these days don’t understand the definition of uniform.
I remember AirTran had from day one that every single person from F/A to CEO wore the one company-issued lanyard. No ifs, ands, or buts. Whether you worked HDQ or at the airport or in the cockpit of an airplane or a maintenance hangar. There was one option. The only pins allowed were company issued seniority pins or award pins (at which point they became a required part of your uniform) and F/As could wear one single color “afa” logo pin.
Concerning to me is the second part of the United statement, Giving support for employees to wear a flag pin to express a connection for something that gives them pride. This opens the door, allowing display of some very controversial subjects in the workspace. Anything can be fashioned as a flag and it is a uniform they wear, not a billboard.
@Maryland … +1 .
Agreed 100% Maryland.
Very happy that you have the guts to tell it like it is and not bowed to intimidation Matthew. And you put it all so articulately too. Bravo.
“… guts … tell it like it is … not bowed … articulately … ”
( That’s what you tell everyone .)
Just don’t fly United. Similar to your comment about Members of Congress being judged accordingly by voters, I judge United with my wallet.
All politicians have big wallets , big mouths , and no ethics. All voters have pea-size brains molded by television .
If someone supports Palestine then they should block traffic, not wear a pin…
Actually, if people wanted to support “Palestine,” they’d be opposing Hamas and its terrorist ways. The so-called Palestinian people (who, btw, have not been welcomed into a single Arab country) will never be “free” and will never have a “state” until they stop supporting terrorists and electing Hamas-lead governments
A very simplistic and short sighted argument that Tucker Carlson would be proud of.
these articles are beyond tiresome…you clearly post them for clickbait, and the same predictable people say the same predictable things on both sides and you give your same replies to some of them. Rinse, repeat every few weeks so matthew can get his clicks…
its honestly worst then your normal articles on people flighting at the gate, since you are blatantly trying to monetize human suffering for your own personal gain.
No, you are wrong. This is not just for clicks/money but becuase it is an issue very near and dear to my heart. And it is also an issue that impacts the carrier I fly most and United took a very different approach to this than did Delta or JetBlue.
Uniform policy at airlines is an issue near and dear to your heart really? I get that United’s policy is different then others.
You can care about the Israel-Palestinian conflict all you want and you can have your opinion on it obviousy (which is obviously different then mine)….it just seems weird to find every tangential way possible to bring it into a travel blog which realistically has nothing to do with the conflict. And then have the same predictable discussions with the same people, talking past each other.
Your blog, enjoy the clicks.
If I saw that Jew-hating shred of human debris on one of my flights, I’d demand to speak to the Captain, and insist that either the flight attendant be forced to remove that symbol of hate, or, alternatively, if the Captain refused to force her to remove that symbol of hate, ask that I be allowed to leave the plane as I would not feel safe being in a small metal tube with someone who supports the animals that have and continue to murder my friends and family. And yes, I do have family in Israel, and yes, I have a friend who was shot just a couple of months ago by one of those Iran-funded, Jew-hating pieces of garbage.
I suggest the latter option…. and in future select another, less PC airline other than UA !
If I’m on that plane, this anti-Semitic flight attendant is gonna get a faceful of my big, fat, Republican, Israel supporting [redacted by admin]!!
While this left-leaning, but staunchly pro-Israel pro-Zionist Democrat (who had family members who were a fundamental part of the founding of the modern Medinat Yisrael) fully agrees with your sentiment, I have to suspect that based on your identification, she’d probably need a magnifying glass to find it.
Criminal much? Given your statement of intent, that’s what you intend to be. You sound like you would fit right in with the “law and order” “support the blue” January 6th insurrectionists.
For what it’s worth, I think people should be able to wear what they please. Do I agree with everything? No. However, the world has become so soft and everything is attention seeking based with this new “woke” generation. You cannot even say “he” anymore with someone becoming offended. This is why I will be relocating somewhere out of this goshforsaken country.
My philosophy: people can do or say anything: as long as it doesn’t affect me or harm others physically. Cool article though to write about.
Stay in your lane Matt (travel).
Live and lets fly should mean what it says. Let other’s live their beliefs, and keep on flying.
You good with Nazi flags onboard? You know, live and let live…
And just another comment regarding the idea of “innocent civilians” in Gaza…
There aren’t really innocent civilians in Gaza.
Opposers of Hamas simply support other terrorist groups.
Their only problem with Hamas is not getting a big enough piece of the pie for themselves.
If we just look at Gaza City, for example, the Hilas clan supports Fatah.
At one point, the Hilas clan engaged in bloody clashes against Hamas in Gaza – not to oppose Hamas’s attacks on Israel, but simply in an attempt to limit Hamas’s domination. The Fatah-supporting Hilas clan advocates terror against Jews.
Two other clans in Gaza City each founded their own terrorist groups: Army of Islam (which kidnapped Gilad Shalit) and the Jihad Battalion (or however you wish to translate “Kataib al-Mujahidin”), which abducted the young Jewish mother Shiri Bibas with her 4-year-old Ariel and her then 10-month-old Kfir (AKA “the redheads”) on October 7th.
The elderly, women, teenagers, and children fully participate in their clan’s chosen terrorist group, as evident from videos of their terrorist rallies (and their participation in the slaughter and looting on October 7th).
So if Hamas lost control of Gaza, you’d simply see Fatah or Army of Islam or Jihad Battalion in charge.
But terrorist groups aren’t the only problem in Gaza.
In Rafah, on the Gazan-Egyptian border, there are 2 crime families (or “crime clans,” if you will) who control the entire area. Both specialize in traffiking drugs, weapons, and human beings.
Traffickers aren’t classified as “terrorists,” but nor are they “innocent civilians.”
Also, a significant number of rockets fired by Muslim-Arab Gazan terrorists fall within Gaza, killing or maiming their fellow Muslim-Arab Gazans.
Please also remember that the Israelis attacked in the kibbutzim on October 7th were the biggest supporters of the Muslim-Arabs in Gaza – donating their time, money, and hearts to demand full rights for the Gazans, a Palestinian state, personally transporting (at their own expense) ill Gazan children to Israeli hospitals for medical care; these same Israeli Leftists provided Gazans with employment (which is how the Gazans were able to map out each kibbutz in order to maximize the slaughter and abductions), and gave their employees food, clothing, gifts, and toys for their children.
Look at what these Israeli Leftists received in return for all their generosity and devotion.
The Gazans didn’t attack Netanyahu or right-wingers. They knowingly attacked the people most devoted to them and their so-called cause.
P.S. As shown in a recent survey, 74% of Palestinians in what the media calls “the West Bank” think the slaughter of October 7th was a great idea and would themselves like to carry out that same exact kind of attack.
Ex combat infantry here : Unfortunately , reality points toward a protracted counter-guerilla war .
Everything would be simpler if Egypt accepted the Palestinians , but Egypt is a basket case itself .
Meanwhile , Israel will take care of itself .
The “StopAntisemitism” operation is not a civil rights organization. It was established by a right-wing Islamophobe who from the very start of the enterprise set it up as a way to make money as income for the organizer.
All politics involves emotional incitement and money-money , on all sides .
All television news involves script readers breathlessly repeating what can incite the emotions of the audience , and rake in the advertising money for their big paychecks .
A Palestine flag pin has the national flag of a nation recognized as such by over 100 UN member states. The same cannot he said for the flags of Nazi Germany or Apartheid South Africa. How many UN member states recognize the Nazi flag or apartheid era South African flag as contemporary national flags of a nation? More like zero than 100.
Enough with the flags . How many morons are represented by those U.N. flags ? Billions .
Thank you for the non-sequitur, but the only one who was talking about UN flags here is you.
I mentioned UN member states and UN member state-recognized nations, not the UN flags until you introduced that irrelevant response.
“But unless the flight attendant above spoke Arabic with a Palestinian dialect, she had no business wearing that pin in uniform.“
That’s a “standard” devised to try to limit and disappear the use of the Palestine national flag.
But it’s built on a ridiculous notion since now Palestinians speak Arabic with just about each and every dialect of Arabic that the linguists can easily identify. Or should we ban American flag pins from being worn by Americans who speak English with a British accent and use peculiar British dialects when speaking English? It’s no less ridiculous to ban Americans from wearing the US flag pin just because of how someone else thinks of the American speaking with a “different” accent or dialect in English.
@GU … Only the British write English correctly . It is not a matter of dialect … it is a matter of proper study .
Enough with the flag pins already . Neither Fiorello LaGuardia nor Eisenhower needed flag pins .
I don’t need a pin for others to see that I am on the side of rational thought and ethical behavior .
I guess its cool to march into another Country and kill 1200 plus people and expect no retaliation? I’m make her work, brining me drinks. Wonder how she would feel having her family murdered, or friends raped. Freedom of Expression is a lovely right, to be protected at all cost.
@Cam … +1 . Morons will do what morons do , and Israel won’t let their guard down again , I hope .
@GU … Only the British write English correctly . It is not a matter of dialect … it is a matter of correct schooling .
Enough with the flag pins already . Neither Fiorello LaGuardia nor Eisenhower needed flag pins .
I’ll probably be called antisemetic for this, but what is the ratio of deafhs on each side? Most of what I read seems to put it ar 20X or more (with the Israelis coming off better). If I’m wrong I would love to see the stats. I can see retaliation, but sometimes it just seems like overkill (literally). I don’t think either side will stop as long as the other is around.
Maybe it’s like when there are a few US citizen deaths on a plane crash get a lot more attention than if it’s “just” people from other countries.